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A recent report in the New York Times (NYT) claims, through trusted “sources”, that Qatar began weapons shipments to opposition militants in Syria at the same time they “increased” support for Al Qaeda linked militants fighting Colonel Gaddafi in Libya in 2011. Gaddafi was ousted (murdered) in October 2011; one must assume that any “increase” in Qatari efforts to arm the militants in Libya were delivered long in advance of Gaddafi’s ouster, meaning the synonymous shipments to “rebels” in Syria also commenced well before October 2011.
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In summary, the current media leaks on arms shipments to Syria can be construed as the Obama administration attempting to build plausible deniability. The constant revision of the Syrian timeline also points to the retroactive smoke-screen being applied to US-led covert policies that have already been exposed. Indeed, this tactic of using client states to gain deniability of US aggression is nothing new. The policy has provided the United States with the ultimate get-out-clause through decades of subversion and aggression upon sovereign nations.

This weeks conflagration near Sidon, a majority Sunni city in the South of Lebanon has been on the cards for some time. Sheikh Al Assir, the instigator of the street battle’s with the Lebanese Armed Forces, (LAF) has been on a concerted campaign to incite sectarian strife and division between the Sunni and Shi’a sects in Lebanon, with one major goal; to draw Hezbollah into a sectarian-based conflict.

Attention has been drawn lately towards Aleppo following the Storm of North operation launched by the Syrian army and initiated by aerial bombardment on Aazaz and Andan, accompanied by land operations towards the two besieged towns of al-Nobbol and al-Zahraa.
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However, it seems that Homs returned to be the army’s priority, by continuing to expand control in the eastern and western regions adjacent to the city of Talkalakh on the Lebanese-Syrian border and the Qaryaten to the east, all the way to the immobilize insurgents in Rastan.

Refined Rebels: US to keep weapon tide from extremists in Syria?The US claims it has found a way to make sure the arms it sends to the rebels in Syria won’t fall into the wrong hands. This comes after leaked reports from the CIA that it’s about to start funneling heavy weapons to rebel fighters. But as Gayane Chichakyan reports, there’s concern within the U.S. political establishment that extremist groups could be the ones to benefit.

Fighting between Takfiri insurgents and the Syrian army rages on across the country. The army is making gains in the western province of Homs, in some eastern parts as well as in areas near the capital Damascus.
Press TV’s Alaa Ebrahim reports from Damascus.